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    Major NELSON R. STEELE, a prominent agriculturist of Marshall Township, was born on the 6th day of February, 1824, in Fayette County, Pennsylvania. He was the youngest of eight children, whose parents were John Steele and Nancy Happer. They were farmers by occupation, and passed through life as people of intelligence and piety, both being members of the Presbyterian Church. His father died in 1856 in Pennsylvania, and his mother in 1850.

    The early education of Nelson was very liberal, and he received a good classical education at Jefferson College, leaving that institution in 1840.

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    From that time till 1850 he stayed on his father’s farm, employed at hard work. In 1850 he went to California and worked for the first two years in the mines, and during the last two years of his residence there dealt in stock. In 1854 he returned to Brownville, Pennsylvania, and in the fall of this year came to Iowa, and located on section thirty-one, Marshall Township, where he has since resided as a farmer and stock raiser, and where in all probability he will pass the balance of his days.

    On the 15th day of August, 1855, he was united in marriage to Jane M. Sloan, a native of Belmont County, Ohio. He is the father of five children, three of whom are living. Politically, the major is a strong democrat; has always been a great admirer of Andrew Jackson and Stephen A. Douglas. That democracy whose tenets embrace the good of the whole Union has always been his political creed. Religiously, his belief is by no means circumscribed by the doctrines of any particular church. Socially, the major is pleasant and affable, is a man remarkable for his hospitality and public spirit. His appearance plainly indicates a sound mind in a sound body.